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People

ABRAHAM

Abraham (Abram), Father of the Jewish people

Time and Place

Abraham is born in the city of Ur (Sumeria), migrates to the land of Canaan, visits the kingdom of Egypt and is buried in the town of Hebron (Canaan).

If he was a real historical figure, he probably lived in the first half of the second millenium.

Abram is born in the Sumerian city of Ur and marries Sarai. She is sterile. They travel north to Charan with Terach, Abraham's father. There, Terach dies.

God speaks to Abram, promising to bless him and make a great nation of him. Abram follows God to Canaan, along with Sarai and Abram's nephew, Lot.

There is a famine in Canaan. Abram goes to Egypt. He is afraid the Egyptians will kill him and take Sarai if they know she is his wife, so he asks her to say she is his sister. Pharaoh has Sarai brought to his palace, and gives Abram animals and slaves. God strikes Pharaoh with severe plagues as a result, and Pharaoh sends Abram and Sarai away.

Abram and his family return to Canaan. Both he and Lot are very rich, with livestock, silver and gold. The land cannot support them both, so Lot goes to the Jordan Plain, and Abram goes to Canaan. God then shows Abram the land that He will give Abram and his offspring.

There is a great war in the Jordon Plain and the victors take captives, including Lot. When Abram hears the news, he and his fighting men pursue the captors, and bring Lot and the other people back.

Abram and Sarai have no children. Sarai tells Abram to wed the slave-girl, Hagar, and have children with her. Abram does, and has a son, named Ishmael.

When Abram is 99 years old, God makes a covenant with him, promising to make him the father of nations and give Canaan to him and his offspring. As part of the convenant, God requires circumcision of Abram and his male descendants. God promises that Sarai will bear a son, though she is 90 years old, and that she will be the mother of nations. Abram laughs. God changes Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah.

Three strangers (angels) visit Abraham. One says that when he returns in a year's time, Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs when she hears this, but denies it when challenged.

God tells Abraham he will destroy Sodom, which has grown evil. Abraham pleads with God to reconsider for the sake of the innocent. God agrees to reconsider if there are 50 innocent people. When Abraham presses, God agrees to reconsider if there are 10. But when the angels investigate, they find only Lot. So God tells Lot to take his family and flee, without looking back. Lot's wife disobeys and is turned into a pillar of salt.

Abraham migrates to the Negev. When he visits Gerar, he again has Sarah say she is his sister. Abimelekh, king of Gerar, takes Sarah, but after God appears in a dream to him, he returns her and gives compensation to Abraham.

Abraham and Sarah have a son, as God promised. Sarah laughs again, and they name the boy Isaac ("he laughed," in Hebrew). Sarah thinks Ishmael is a bad influence on Isaac and tells Abraham to send him away with his mother. Abraham is reluctant, but God tells Abraham to do what Sarah asked. God promises to make Ishmael a nation as well.

When Isaac is older, God tells Abraham to take Isaac to a mountain and sacrifice him. This is a test. Abraham goes, as he is told, and prepares to cut Isaac's throat, but God's angel stops him. Seeing a ram caught in a thicket, Abraham sacrifices it instead.

Sarah dies in Hebron. Abraham buys the Makhpelah Cave and adjoining field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site.

Abraham sends a servant back to his homeland to seek a wife for Isaac. The servant finds Isaac's cousin, Rebecca. She agrees to follow the servant back and marry Isaac.

Abraham marries Keturah, another concubine, and fathers 6 more children before he dies at age 175. Isaac and Ishmael bury him in Makhpelah Cave.

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